


From Philly to Brooklyn

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bus, Cute, Flirting, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M, iron man tony, meet cute, single dad Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: "Sorry," Steve murmured, exhausted from balancing his humiliation with sympathy for his exhausted son.The man waved a hand vaguely towards his head. "Too much loud music and machinery. Doesn't bother me. He okay?""Yeah." Steve sighed. "Just been a long day."Peter stopped sobbing for a moment to rub a snail trail across the front of Steve's shirt to turn and face the man, brow furrowed with skepticism.Steve shook his head, unable to help smiling."Hey, kiddo," the man said. His lips twitched to the side. "What have you got to complain about, huh? Too many bills to pay? Boss treating you badly? Furnace needs replacing?"
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 68
Kudos: 1168





	From Philly to Brooklyn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [betheflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY FLAAAMEEEEEEEE

_"Nooooooo!"_ Peter smacked his fist against Steve's chest, breaking back into wordless wailing.

Steve shot yet another apologetic glance at the woman next to him, but she'd gone from understanding smiles to leaning away from him, tilting her ear towards her shoulder as if she could seal it there and block out the noise.

Steve bounced Peter uselessly on his knee, hushing him with an air of desperation now. "I know, baby, I know." He pressed his cheek to the top of Peter's head. His skin was hot with the force of his temper and frustration. Steve knew the feeling, but he was the adult. He couldn't just scream and hope things would get better. 

The bus rumbled along, bouncing on the uneven road. Steve clutched Peter closer to his chest, one hand cradling the back of his head. He was getting a bit big for it, but whenever he threw a tantrum like this, he always felt younger to Steve. It probably meant he babied him when he should be laying down boundaries, or something, but he couldn't help himself. 

The bus brakes screeched as it pulled up at one of the few stops on the long run from Philadelphia back home to New York and that set Peter off screaming again. There was a fuss at the front of the bus as people got off - thankfully, including the bothered woman - and got on, but Steve was distracted trying to reorganize Peter's kicking feet in a way that didn't ram them into his kidneys. "Come on, baby, just - okay." He groaned as Peter screeched loudly enough that Steve could feel heads turning around in their seats to glare at him. 

He looked up and realized there was someone new sitting in the seat opposite the aisle to him, a man. Steve must have stared - wondering who on earth would choose to sit _closer_ to the screaming toddler - because the man looked up and stared back. 

At least, Steve assumed he was staring. A baseball hat pulled low and dark sunglasses made it hard to tell what he was looking at. "Sorry," Steve murmured, exhausted from balancing his humiliation with sympathy for his exhausted son.

The man waved a hand vaguely towards his head. "Too much loud music and machinery. Doesn't bother me. He okay?"

"Yeah." Steve sighed. "Just been a long day." 

Peter stopped sobbing for a moment to rub a snail trail across the front of Steve's shirt to turn and face the man, brow furrowed with skepticism.

Steve shook his head, unable to help smiling. 

"Hey, kiddo," the man said. His lips twitched to the side. "What have you got to complain about, huh? Too many bills to pay? Boss treating you badly? Furnace needs replacing?"

Peter just stared, but he wasn't sobbing anymore, too startled by being addressed directly to continue with his fit.

The man leaned in close, looking up and down the aisle, then he pulled his sunglasses off, offering Peter a wink and a smile.

"Oh my god," Steve hissed, then he slapped his hand over his mouth. Before scrambling to cover Peter's instead as he squealed. The bus, used to Peter's noises, didn't seem to notice that he'd gone from distraught to excited. "Petey, shhh."

"Ira Park!" Peter yelped.

The man - who was obviously Tony Stark - burst into contained laughter, curling in on himself to muffle his snort into his jacket. "What did he just call me?"

Steve's cheeks ignited. "Iron Park," he admitted. "He's not entirely sure what the difference between Tony Stark and Iron Man is so he thinks they're the same thing. Also he can't say Stark yet." Steve winced. "Sorry."

But Tony extended his hand towards Peter. "Ira Park. Nice to meet you."

Peter hid his face again, giggling.

"Peter," Steve offered, and Tony Stark's gaze cut up to meet his. Jesus - he was even more gorgeous in person.

"You or him?" Tony asked, smirking heart-stoppingly.

"Him."

Peter peeked out again.

"Ah. Peter, hello. And what's your daddy's name?"

"I'm Steve," Steve breathed.

Tony leaned sideways in his seat, legs swinging out into the aisle. "So, Peter. I understand you have a complaint you'd like to file with HR."

Peter giggled again, and Steve nearly burst into tears himself, so relieved that Peter wasn't screaming anymore. Peter started babbling about dinosaurs, most likely because his two favourite TV shows were Space Dinos and Iron Man Adventures - a show based on Tony's real life which started with a recorded message from the man himself each week - which were on back-to-back after school. Tony was nodding and somehow asking questions that Peter answered, understanding his enthusiastic if somewhat stuttered description of Ironsauraus, a new Space Dino of Peter's own invention. 

"That's fascinating," Tony said, sounding deeply serious. "I particularly like the eye lasers. Brilliant work. No doubt I'll be hiring you on my R&D team in a couple years."

Peter laughed again. "Okay!" he said. Then he reached out for Tony.

Steve scrambled to rebalance him. "Shit. Sorry." But Tony held out his hands and caught him easily.

"Do you mind?" he asked Steve.

The relief of having someone else take him after an hour on the bus comforting him was so palpable that Steve did something he rarely did and handed Peter to essentially a stranger. "You don't have to -" he said, even as he tipped his son into Tony Stark's lap.

"It's fine. You came from Philly?" Tony settled Peter on his lap.

"Yeah."

Tony met his eyes, glowing with sympathy. "Three hours. Long trip."

"Long trip at the end of a long day," Steve admitted.

"Is it okay if I give him something? I just carry some stuff for the kids."

"Sure. Of course, yeah. As long as it's not s-u-g-a-r."

Tony laughed and shook his head. "Hey, Peter, want to see something cool?"

Peter nodded, thumb in his mouth now, eyes heavy. It was four hours after his normal naptime. The day was basically fucked and at this point, Steve would take a too-late nap that would mess with dinner time, just to let the poor kid sleep.

Tony pulled his briefcase out from under his seat and swiped his thumb over the lock. It spun open. He took a small snap-case out of the bottom and closed the briefcase to lay it on top. The smaller case was decorated with Iron Man red and gold, clearly meant to be attractive to kids. Peter's eyes went wide with want, leaning in to see what might come out of it.

Tony pulled out a sheet of Iron Man stickers and a little Iron Man figurine - which Steve suspected was actually an eraser - and handed them to Peter who was nearly visibly vibrating with covetousness. They were silly little trinkets, but it was the kind of stuff Steve could never justify spending money on, and it made his eyes prickle to see his kid being spoiled a little, something he deserved and rarely got.

"What do you say, Peter?" Steve said, perfunctorily, worried his voice sounded rougher than it should.

"Tankers," Peter mumbled, his entire focus on turning the eraser around and around in his hands.

"You're very welcome." Tony shut his case and shoved it onto the seat next to him then leaned back, Peter settled in his lap. He turned to Steve with a smile.

"Thank you," Steve reiterated. "Honestly. This whole bus owes you a debt of gratitude right now."

Tony laughed. "He's okay, right? Just grumpy?"

"Yeah. He's not used to this trekking back and forth. Today was so disrupted, he missed his nap. I was interviewing for a job, and the job itself is in Brooklyn, but the headquarters is in Philly, so I had to bus out for the interview and I had nowhere to leave him. My friend who usually watches him while I work wasn't available. He was an absolute angel through the interview - thank _god -_ but when we got back on the bus, his patience about ran out."

Tony had started gently bouncing Peter on his knee, and Peter's eyes were getting heavier and heavier, his full weight against Tony's chest now. "His mom couldn't -?" Tony prompted.

"Ah. No. She's… gone. Just us."

"I see. Sorry."

Steve shrugged. He stretched out his arms, rolling his shoulders, then tipped his head back to watch as Peter continued to drift off in Tony's arms. Tony Stark was holding his kid. Huh. His mind rewound a little to Tony's question and he frowned as he pondered it. Why would Tony ask about Peter's mom? Unless…? Was he… checking? Steve glanced down at his unadorned ring finger then cleared his throat softly. "It's nice to see him comfortable around another man besides me," Steve offered.

"Oh?"

"Not a lot of male influence." Steve coughed lightly. "My ex-boyfriend wasn't very good with him." Steve tried hard not to notice if Tony was reacting to that. "So it's pretty much just me and my best friend he sees a lot. Both his teachers have been women so far."

"Ah." There was a soft twist to Tony's voice, and he was smiling, eyes fixed decidedly on Steve's. "Well, it's a good thing that the reputation that precedes me is based on the cartoon and not real life or he wouldn't trust me a lick." He let his tongue peek out between his teeth for a moment. 

"Actually, he's getting more and more into the other side of you," Steve said gently. "He's young for it, but he loves science so I've been putting on that series you did for Netflix? The experiment series for high schoolers? Hypothesis Testing?"

"Oh, yeah." Tony nodded. "That was fun. He likes it?"

"Oh yeah. Loves when things blow up, but he also loves just listening to you talk and he's picked up some very unusual vocab words from it too. Startles people when he's talking about Lego and juice and then tosses a 'astrophysics' in there."

Tony laughed again, holding himself back, but shaking with true mirth. Peter had completely passed out now, mouth slack, fingers loose around the toys he still clutched. 

"I can take him," Steve said, hands twitching towards Tony.

"Cause you want him back or cause you're worried he's bothering me?"

"Uh." Steve chewed his lip. "The latter. He kicks in his sleep."

"I don't mind. Come on, Steve. I'm sure you need the break."

Steve swallowed around a sudden knot in his throat. It felt like it'd been so long since someone had just been kind to him for the sake of being kind. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'm enjoying hanging out with someone who doesn't want a talking point. If only I could placate my board of directors with repulsor stickers and a cuddle."

Steve laughed softly. "Well, I appreciate it. Honestly. I _really_ appreciate it. I'm sure the rest of the bus does too. He'd been screaming for almost two hours before you got on." Steve glanced out the window then snapped back to Tony. "Wait. Why are _you_ on a greyhound from Philly to New York?"

"Bleh." Tony frowned. "Long, dumb story. I'm sort of undercover. Got on the bus trailing a mark, but it turns out my mark isn't on this bus. And the next stop is the last stop. Didn't want to disrupt the whole bus making it pull over and I managed to get someone else on the mark." He laughed lightly. "This is the part they don't put in the cartoon."

"Ah." Steve offered him a smile. "They also don't put in how good with kids you are." _Or how charismatic you are in person,_ he added in his head. 

Tony smiled at that, a soft, honest smile as he looked down at Peter sleeping. "I always wanted kids," he said idly, almost as if he were talking to himself instead of to Steve. 

"Really?"

"Yeah. They stress me the fuck out, but I love them."

Steve snorted. "You haven't…? No one -?"

"Nah. Haven't had a long-term enough partner and no one wants to adopt to a man who regularly wraps himself in tin foil and flings himself at invading aliens and black market arms dealers. So I borrow my cousin's kids whenever they're in town and I keep stickers in the case, so I can charm handsome strangers out of their toddlers -" Tony winked at Steve, making his heart flop "- and it's pretty great to go to classrooms and see kids getting excited about science."

"Yeah I bet. Your show is really great. Heck, _I've_ learned a ton from it."

"Thanks." Tony seemed genuinely pleased. 

The bus continued to trundle along the dark highway, and the conversation twisted this way and that between them, but never died down. Tony kept Peter in his lap the whole time, and every time Steve looked over to see them together, it did something unexpected to him, something he'd never felt before that sizzled through him from head to foot.

It seemed like only ten minutes later that the bus pulled to a stop at the station with a sharp hiss of brakes. Despite the horrifying way the first ninety percent of the day had gone, the last ten percent had been so good, Steve was reluctant to let it end. 

"Can I give you a ride?" Tony asked.

"Pardon?"

"My car's meeting me here at the station. I can give you a ride."

"Oh no," Steve insisted. "We're fine. Just a few subway stops away."

Tony hummed noncommittally. The bus lights clicked on and everyone started to unload. Tony stood first, easily shifting Peter to his hip, and Steve snatched up Tony's briefcase as well as Peter's backpack. Out in the cool night air, Tony poured the sleeping Peter into Steve's arms and Steve traded him back for his briefcase. The driver unloaded the luggage hold and Steve nudged his duffle bag out of the way of the pressing crowd.

Tony pressed light fingers to Steve's elbow. "You sure I can't drop you off somewhere?"

Steve chewed his lip and glanced towards the sign for the subway at the end of the block. Peter was heavy in his arms and the bag against his legs was going to be hard to manage. But it seemed so… something, to beg for help from Tony Stark.

Not that he was begging; Tony was offering.

And then Tony was _insisting,_ grabbing Steve's bag and gently guiding him towards the curb. "Come on, Steve. You look dead on your feet. Let me take you home."

For Peter, Steve said, "Okay, thank you," and rattled off his address to Tony's driver. He must have nearly nodded off in the drive because it seemed much too short and he hardly said a word to Tony the whole way. Thankfully, Tony didn't seem bothered, typing on his phone, the screen making his face glow eerily in the dark. 

The car pulled up outside Steve's place and he shuffled out with Peter in tow, miraculously not waking him. Tony helped sling the bag over his shoulder. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Steve."

Steve grinned. "Pleasure was all mine, honest. Well, maybe even more his. He's never going to get over this, Mr. Stark. Thank you."

"Tony." Tony opened his mouth like there was going to be more, then closed it again with a smile and a shake of his head. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And then he was gone. 

When Steve woke up the next morning, if it hadn't been for Peter's little Iron Man eraser, he would find it hard to believe it had ever happened at all.

**

"Mister Mail, Daddyyy!" Peter screeched. 

Steve looked up from his desk to see Peter hanging over the back of the couch, looking out the front window. "Mail for us?"

"Yes! Go!"

Steve laughed. "Okay, okay. But if it's the water bill, you're paying it."

"Alright." Peter flipped upside down, grinning.

Steve opened the door and checked the mailbox, but it was empty, he was turning back inside when he realized there was a box on the stoop. He picked it up. It had the address and "Peter & Steve" printed on the front, but no shipping label, which meant it had to have been delivered by courier. Steve put it on the coffee table and ripped the tape off, drawing Peter's attention. 

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet." Steve pried the flaps open and pulled out a stuffed toy. But it wasn't just any stuffed toy, it was a dinosaur styled to look like Iron Man.

Peter squealed so loudly Steve slapped a hand over his ear and snatched the toy up, clutching it to his chest. 

The only other thing in the box was a note, handwritten on thick card.

_Hey, Steve -_

_Hope you don't mind that I did this. I really appreciate you and Peter keeping me company on a rough night. Plus his idea was too brilliant to ignore._

_I also hope you don't mind what I'm about to do, either... want to get dinner some night? If this is totally inappropriate, just ignore me. Sometimes it's hard to judge where the celebrity ends, you know? And I wouldn't want you saying yes just because I'm Iron Man, or something. Not only for your sake, but also for mine. You don't seem like the kinda guy who would, though, which is probably why I'm asking._

_So maybe we could get coffee as friends or dinner as a date? Or maybe it was just one of those crazy nights we'll always both remember and that's that. But I couldn't go on assuming the latter if either of the formers were possible._

_Anyway, it was really nice meeting you and Peter. Take care._

_-TS  
_ _212-970-4133_

Steve stared down at the note for a long time, a slow smile blooming on his face. He dug his phone out of his pocket, Peter making wild dinosaur-repulsor noises in the background and dialed. 

When Tony picked up, the first thing Steve said was, "Dinner sounds lovely."

And it was.


End file.
